About Us

Munro Instruments has achieved a global reputation for excellence in providing instruments and systems of the highest quality.

Our core product lines focus on the supply of:

Meteorological & Environmental Monitoring Equipment: Automatic Weather Stations and standalone sensors to enable the measurement of wind speed & direction, temperature, humidity, rainfall, barometric pressure, solar radiation, air quality, soil quality and water quality. We also manufacture Gravimetric Air Samplers for the assesment of workplaces and environments where airborne gases and dusts may be a hazard to health.

Portable Skid Resistance Testers (also known as the British Pendulum Tester): This is the internationally accepted instrument for assessing the slip and skid potential of pedestrian surfaces and roads.

Our equipment is manufactured at our premises in East London, United Kingdom, and is shipped to customers worldwide.

"Across three centuries, Munro Instruments has been a leading light in the field of meteorological and environmental monitoring. We are proud to be continuing this important work started by Robert William Munro in 1864."

Isobel Daley, Managing Director of Munro Instruments

COMPANY HISTORY

We are enormously proud of our rich and varied history. Founded in 1864 by R.W. Munro (1839 – 1912), the company quickly became known for its innovative spirit and the production of quality instrumentation. Below, we have provided a brief overview of the early developments which have helped Munro establish itself as a world leader in instrumentation.

Following the Tay Bridge Disaster on 28th December 1879, in which a bridge was blown away with a full passenger train, a public enquiry was set up. This enquiry found that there was a general lack of understanding of wind speed, how to measure it, and its impact on the bridge. As a result, W.H. Dines was called upon to research a solution to this problem. He devised the Dines Pressure Tube Anemometer. Following the design of this instrumentation, R.W. Munro was commissioned as the sole manufacturer of this product. These instruments were used around the world to better understand the impact of wind on the environment around us.

In 1880, the Bank of England called upon R.W. Munro to supply a more efficient printing machine that would print and number notes at a rate of 3000 per hour. Over the next few years, the Post Office followed the Bank of England’s lead and began ordering printing machines from R.W. Munro

In 1890 Mining Engineer & Geologist John Milne approached R.W. Munro to investigate the possibility of a collaborative effort to produce a sensitive portable seismograph. Over a 10 year period, John Milne and R.W. Munro worked to develop a set of equipment to measure earthquakes. This venture was a huge success. The Portable Seismograph was sold all over the world and could be found in places as far flung as Brazil, Australia and St Vincent in the Caribbean.

R.W. Munro played a crucial role in the completion of Henry Babbage’s Analytical Engine Mill in 1906. Whilst Henry Babbage produced this machine simply to prove that it would have worked, this development represented a step towards the invention of the modern computer in later years. The efficacy of the machine was demonstrated when it was used to print pi (π) to 29 decimal places. Whilst the complete machine was never finished, it does work and is currently on display in London in the Science Museum’s computing section.

In 1906, a Dines Pressure Tube Anemometer manufactured by R.W. Munro was lent for use on the expedition to the Antarctic led by Captain Scott. Following this failed expedition, this instrument is recovered and placed on display at a museum

R.W. Munro’s connection to computing was renewed in 1956 when IBM asked the company to reconstruct a copy of Babbage’s Analytical Engine Mill